Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests Part 20

The bites and stings of numbers of them are very dangerous, and it requires much caution to guard against their attacks.

Variegated b.u.t.terflies flutter noiselessly among the spreading branches of the trees, or sun themselves on the warm ma.s.ses of fallen leaves. The most remarkable of these b.u.t.terflies is the large atlas, whose brilliant blue tints s.h.i.+ne out with l.u.s.trous radiance in the dim light of the forest. Along the banks of rivers, and especially in hot marshy spots, small musquitoes swarm. The bite of this animal produces an intolerable burning sensation, and often causes considerable inflammation. But more troublesome, and also much more numerous, are the stinging-flies (_sancudos_). On my first arrival in the Montana, I lay several days exceedingly ill in consequence of severe swelling of the head and limbs, caused by the bites of these insects. To the inhabitant of the forest the sancudos are an incessant torment. In no season of the year, in no hour of the day or night, is there any respite from their attacks. Rubbing the body with unctuous substances, together with the caustic juices of certain plants, and at night enclosing one's self in a tent made of _tucuyo_ (cotton cloth), or palm-tree bast, are the only means of protection against their painful stings. The clothes commonly worn are not sufficient, for they are perforated by the long sting of the larger species, particularly of the much-dreaded _huir-pasimi-sancudo_ (Lip-gnat). Regularly every evening at twilight fresh swarms of these mischievous insects make their appearance.

The ticks (_ixodes_) are a cla.s.s of insects destined by nature for the suction of plants; but they often forsake trees, shrubs, and gra.s.ses, to fasten on man and other animals. With their long sharp stings they make punctures, in which they insert their heads, and thereby occasion very painful sores. These insects appear to have no preference for any particular cla.s.s of animals. They are often found on the hair of dead mammalia, and among the feathers of birds which have been shot; even the toad, the frog, and the scaly lizard are not spared by them. Much more troublesome than these insects are the antanas, which are not visible to the naked eye. They penetrate the surface of the skin, and introduce themselves beneath it, where they propagate with incredible rapidity; and when some thousands of them are collected together, a blackish spot appears, which quickly spreads. If these insects are not destroyed when they first introduce themselves into the punctures, they multiply with incalculable rapidity, destroying the skin, and all the tender parts in contact with it. Was.h.i.+ng with brandy, which is often found to be a remedy against the less mischievous isancos, is not sufficient for the removal of the antanas. For their extirpation the only effectual remedy is frequently bathing the part affected with a mixture of spirits of wine and corrosive sublimate.

Who can describe the countless myriads of ants which swarm through the forests? Every shrub is full of creeping life, and the decayed vegetation affords harbor for some peculiar kinds of these insects.

The large yellow _puca-cici_ is seen in mult.i.tudes in the open air, and it even penetrates into the dwellings. This insect does not bite, but its crawling creates great irritation to the skin. The small black _yana-cici_, on the contrary, inflicts most painful punctures. A very mischievous species of stinging ant is the black _sunchiron_. This insect inflicts a puncture with a long sting, which he carries in the rear of his body. The wound is exceedingly painful, and is sometimes attended by dangerous consequences. My travelling companion, C. Klee, being stung by one of these ants, suffered such severe pain and fever, that he was for a short while delirious. A few nights afterwards, a similar attack was made on myself during sleep. It suddenly awoke me, and caused me to start up with a convulsive spring. I must confess that I never, in my whole life, experienced such severe pain as I did at that moment.

A most remarkable phenomenon is exhibited by the swarms of the species called the _naui-huacan-cici_,[95] the great _wandering ant_. They appear suddenly in trains of countless myriads, and proceed forward in a straight direction, without stopping. The small, the weak, and the neuters are placed in the centre, while the large and the strong flank the army, and look out for prey. These swarms, called by the natives _Chacus_, sometimes enter a hut and clear it of all insects, amphibia, and other disagreeable guests. This work being accomplished, they again form themselves into a long train, and move onwards. The united force of these small creatures is vast, and there is no approach to the fabulous, when it is related that not only snakes, but also large mammalia, such as agoutis, armadillas, &c., on being surprised by them, are soon killed. On the light dry parts of the higher Montanas we find the large conical dwellings of the termes so firmly built, that they are impenetrable even to rifle shot. They sometimes stand singly, sometimes together, in long lines. In form they strongly resemble the simple, conical Puna huts.

Before leaving the animal kingdom of these forest regions, which I have here sketched only briefly and fragmentally, I must notice two insects, the _Cucaracha_ and the _Chilicabra_, species of the c.o.c.kroach (_Blatta_). They are exceedingly numerous and troublesome. The Cucaracha, which more particularly infests the deep regions of the forest, is an inch and a half long, and above half an inch broad; it is reddish brown, with a yellow neck. The Chilicabra, though smaller, is more mischievous, by reason of its greater numbers. They settle in the huts, where they destroy provisions, gnaw clothes, get into beds, and into the dishes at meal time. These insects defy every precaution that can be taken against their tormenting attacks. Luckily, nature has provided enemies for their destruction. Among these is a small reddish yellow ant, called by the Indians, the _Pucchu-cici_, a useful member of the ant family, for it pursues and destroys the mischievous c.o.c.kroaches. There is also a very elegant little bird, called the _Cucarachero_ (_Troglodytes audax_, Tsch.) which wages war against these insects. On seizing one of them it first bites off the head, then devours the body, and throws away the tough wings. These operations being completed, it hops to the nearest bush, and tunes its melodious song, the sounds of which closely resemble the words "_Acabe la tarea!_" a name which the Indians give to this bird.[96] I could yet fill many pages with descriptions of insects which are dangerous or troublesome, and among them are included the julus, measuring six inches in length, the large black and red scorpion, not forgetting the numerous poisonous wasps and the cicadas. However, those which have been noticed will suffice to afford an idea of the ever-active movements of animal life in the forests.

Willingly would I take a view of the vegetation of the virgin forests, and attempt to sketch its progressive developments and alternations from the hilly Montanas of the eastern declivities of the Andes to the humid level banks of the larger rivers; but I do not feel myself competent to undertake a labor to which former travellers intimately acquainted with the world of plants have already rendered full justice.[97] Being devoted to the study of zoology, and, unfortunately, too little familiar with botany, I have confined myself to a description of the general impression produced by the luxuriant growth of the soil, without entering into the individualities of the vegetation. In the more highly situated Montanas, where the cinchona is found in the place of its nativity, the gigantic orchidae, the numerous fern plants, the tree-like nettles, the wonderful bignonias, and the numerous, impenetrable complications of climbing plants, powerfully rivet the attention of the observer. Lower down, in the lighter forest soil, amidst numerous shrubs and climbers, the eye delights to dwell on the manifold forms of the stately palm, on the terebinthaceae, on the thickly-leaved balsam-yielding leguminosae, on the luxuriant laurels, on the pandaneae or the large-leaved heliconias, and on the solaneae, with their gigantic blossoms and thousands of flowers. Descending still further, the flat lands of the forest a.s.sume a dark and gloomy aspect. The ma.s.sive foliage of trees overarches stems which are the growth of centuries, and form a canopy almost impervious to the light of day. On the slimy soil no small shrub uprears its head, no flowering plant unfolds its blossom. The mighty trees stand alone, and erect in rows, like gravestones in a churchyard; and the child of darkness--the rapidly-shooting mushroom--finds genial nurture on the warm humid earth.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 79: Bark-gatherers. The Peruvians call the bark _cascarilla_, and they point out the distinctions of a great number of species and varieties.]

[Footnote 80: From Cuzco, the ancient residence of the Incas. It was discovered by the French chemists Corriol and Pelletier, in the Cascarilla which is s.h.i.+pped in Arica; hence this alkaloid is also called _Aricin_.]

[Footnote 81: The Indian name for this animal is _Chaque chinca_. The black variety _Yana chinca_ is called by the Spaniards _Tigre_ or _Yaguar_.]

[Footnote 82: _Rupicola peruviana_, Ch. Dum. The color of the female is reddish brown, and she is named by the natives _Tunqui mulato_; the male is called _Tunqui Colorado_. In some parts of the Montana the _Cephalopterus ornatus_ is called _Yana Tunqui_. Thus, even the Indians have observed the relations.h.i.+p of these birds, which, cla.s.sed according to our system of natural history, actually belong to one family, the _Ampelidae_. Their affinity is indicated very correctly by the Indian name.]

[Footnote 83: The Organistas of Peru, Brazil, and Guiana, &c., mentioned by so many travellers, all belong to the family of the Troglodytinae, to the two genera, _Troglodytes_, Vieill, and _Cyphorhinus_, Cab. The Peruvian Organista above alluded to, is the _Troglodytes leucophrys_, Tsch. In Guiana it appears to be the _Cyphorhinus carinatus_, Cab.]

[Footnote 84: _Xenops_, _Anabates_, _Dendrocolaptes_, and many other kinds of _Capito_ and _Picus_.]

[Footnote 85: These are different kinds of _Ca.s.sicus_ and _Icterus_.]

[Footnote 86: Kinds of Pteroglossus. Those most frequently met with in the Montanas are the _Pt. atrogularis_, Sturm; _Pt. coeruleocinctus_, Tsch. (_Aulacorhynchus_, Orb.); and _Pt. Derbia.n.u.s_, Gould.]

[Footnote 87: _Dios te de_ signifies _May G.o.d give it thee_. The sound which is interpreted, _Dios te de_ resembles very much the cry of most of the Toucans, or pepper-eaters.]

[Footnote 88: Several kinds of Penelope.]

[Footnote 89: The cry of this bird closely resembles the Spanish words _Ven aca_ (Come hither).]

[Footnote 90: Seven species of Crypturus.]

[Footnote 91: _Sterna erythrorhynchos_, Prince Max., _St.

magnirostris_, Licht.]

[Footnote 92: _Champsa fissipes, sclerops et nigra_, Wagl.]

[Footnote 93: _Echidna ocellata_, Tsch. This is the only species of the viper family belonging to South America, as yet known.]

[Footnote 94: _Sphenocephalus melanogenys_, Tsch.; _Lygophis Reginae_, Wagl.; _L. taeniurus_, Tsch.; _L. elegans_, Tsch.]

[Footnote 95: From _naui_, the eye, _huacay_, to cry, and _cici_, the ant;--so called by the Indians, because the pain of its numerous stings brings tears into the eyes.]

[Footnote 96: "_Acabe la tarea_" may be translated "_My task is finished_." But the Indians are not very consistent in their interpretations of the song of the _Cucarachero_; for in some districts, they contend that it repeats the words--_Casa te Soltera_, "_Go and get married, Maiden_."]

[Footnote 97: A. von Humboldt, von Martius, and, in particular, Poppig, who has published a narrative of his journey through Peru, distinguished by its precision, and written in a style so elegant and simple that its perusal affords the utmost interest and pleasure.]

CHAPTER XV.

Montana of San Carlos de Vitoc--Villages--Hacienda of Maraynioc--the Coca Plant--Mode of Cultivating and Gathering it--Mastication of Coca--Evil Consequences of its excessive Use--Its Nutritious Qualities--Indian Superst.i.tions connected with the Coca Plant--Suggestions for its Introduction in the European Navies--Fabulous animal called the Carbunculo--The Chunchos--Missions to Cerro de la Sal--Juan Santos Atahuallpa--The Franciscan Monks--Depopulation of Vitoc.

The Montana of San Carlos de Vitoc is, without exception, one of the most interesting districts of Peru. It has on the one side, and at a short distance, the populous villages of the Sierra, and on the other it borders on the forests, through which the wild Indians range in their hunting excursions. It was formerly the princ.i.p.al key to the missionary stations of the Pampa del Sacramento, the Chanchamayo, Perenc, and Upper Ucayali. It is only twenty leagues distant from Tarma, from whence the road leads through the fertile valley Acobamba, to Palca. Eastward of the latter place are the ruins of a fort, which in former times must have been a place of considerable importance. The wild Indians have repeatedly made hostile sallies from their forests, and it is only by this bulwark, which, with four small field-pieces, completely defends the narrow valley, that they have been checked in their advance on Tarma. An exceedingly steep path runs about a league and a half up the acclivity; then, becoming somewhat more level, it extends to the base of the crest, which at that part is about 14,000 feet above the level of the sea. Here the aspect of the Andes is by no means so imposing as that of the Cordillera, for the glaciers and steep rocky summits are wanting.

The highest peaks rise only about 200 feet above the crest. As in the Cordillera, the eastern declivity inclines much more gently than the western, but the road is marshy, and is interspersed with large hollows, into which the mules often fall and are killed. After pa.s.sing over the Andes, two leagues further, we come to the hacienda Maraynioc, where numerous herds of cattle are kept. Round the hacienda there are potato plantations, and the potatoes reared here are so excellent, that they are celebrated throughout the whole Sierra. Every morning the sky is obscured by heavy clouds; it rains regularly two days in the week, and there are frequent falls of snow; yet notwithstanding this excessive humidity, a bad harvest is an event never to be apprehended. The cultivation of maize is, however, found to be impracticable here, for soon after germination the ears rot. A small stream flows past the hacienda, and after a course of about three leagues, it reaches the Montana de Vitoc. Formerly, the road ran close along the bank of this stream, but in consequence of the repeated depopulation of Vitoc, it became neglected, and at length impa.s.sable.

The way is now over the Cuchillo, or sharp edge of a mountain ridge, and it must be at least four times longer than the course formerly taken.

From Maraynioc the road proceeds, for the length of a league, through a valley overgrown with brushwood, and then rises to a lateral branch of the Andes, which is almost as high as the main chain. The Indians call this ridge, _Manam rimacunan_ ("Thou shall not speak!"), for a heavy wind, accompanied by drifting snow, blows constantly, and renders it scarcely possible to open the mouth to utter a word. From Manarimacunan, downwards, to the lower Montana, the road pa.s.ses over stones laid in _echelon_ form, and through a very slippery hollow way, which descends rapidly downward, and is surrounded by almost impenetrable woods; the only open and level place is the field of Chilpes, which is a few hundred paces long.

Here it is highly interesting to contemplate the rapid increase of vegetation, and the varied changes in the animal world. From the brink of a ridge where only feeble vegetation can be seen, we descend a few leagues and speedily find ourselves in the region of the Cinchona tree, and in the evening we are among lofty palms. The first human dwellings seen on entering the Montana are half a dozen small huts, forming the hamlet Amaruyo, formerly called Sibis, and immediately after we come to the village of Vitoc. It consists of about fifty wretched huts, and has a small church, in which wors.h.i.+p is performed twice a year for the inhabitants of the whole valley.

Vitoc is surrounded by two rivers, which unite in a sharp angle, called the Tingo, and which separate the valley from the territory of the wild Indians. The valley is deep, and the surrounding heights are broken by many quebradas. The soil is very fruitful, and the locality is less than some others infested with troublesome insects; yet it is but scantily peopled, for, besides the two villages and the Hacienda of Maraynioc, already mentioned, it contains only a few scattered chacras. The inhabitants of this, the most favored district of the Montanas, scarcely amount to 200. The villagers employ themselves chiefly in the cultivation of pines, which are sent to Lima. The Indians of Palca and Tapo bring them potatoes, salt, and butcher's meat, for which the villagers exchange their pine-apples. The fruit is conveyed by a.s.ses to the coast, where, however, it seldom arrives in good condition. The other productions of the Montana are maize, oranges, bananas, paltas, Spanish pepper, &c.; but these articles are sold only in the Sierra.

Each inhabitant of the village cultivates his own piece of ground, which he can enlarge when he pleases; but these people are too indolent to devote themselves seriously to agriculture. It is only when the governor in Tarma compels them to pay the annual contribution, that they make an effort to augment their earnings; they then seek a market for the products of their cultivation, and sell them for ready money. Vitoc and some of the villages in its neighborhood form altogether only one ecclesiastical community, whose pastor lives in Tarma the whole year round. He goes to Pucara only once in six or eight months, to read a couple of ma.s.ses, and to solemnize marriages and christenings, but chiefly to collect fees for burials which may have taken place during his absence.

The plantation of Pacchapata is of considerable extent, but produces very little. The system of repartimientos, already described, by which the poor Indian is kept in a state of slavery by advances of clothing, meat, brandy, &c., is practised in this hacienda to a great extent. The laborer who is set down in the plantation-book as a debtor for ten or twelve dollars, has a good chance of remaining during the rest of his life a tributary slave; for if he tries by prolonged labor to relieve himself from the debt the owner of the plantation causes brandy to be made, and this is too great a temptation to be resisted by an Indian.

The butcher's meat given to the laboring Indians in general consists of _Chalonas_, that is, the dried flesh of sheep which have died in the haciendas of the hilly districts. For a meagre, tough, unwholesome chalona the Indian has to add a dollar and a half or two dollars to his debt, while a living sheep in the Sierra would not cost half the price.

It is the same with other articles furnished by the haciendas. European importations, such as can be purchased at very low prices in the Sierra, are sold at high profits by the owners of plantations to the poor Indians, who have to repay them by long and severe labor.

At Pacchapata, besides maize, yuccas, and fruits, sugar, coffee, and coca are also cultivated. The sugar-cane grows in abundance, and is of good quality. An excellent kind of coffee is grown here; the bean is slightly globular, and its color is a greenish blue. In former times the viceroy used to send the coffee of Vitoc as a highly-esteemed present to the court of Madrid. The coca is also very fine, and yields three harvests in the year; which, however, is only the case in a few of the Montanas, as, for example, at Pangoa and Huanta. I may here subjoin some notice of this highly interesting plant.

The coca (_Erythroxylon coca_, Lam.) is a shrub about six feet in height, with bright green leaves and white blossoms. The latter are succeeded by small scarlet berries. It is raised from the seed, in garden-beds called _almazigas_. When the young shoots are one and a half or two feet high, they are removed to regularly laid out coca fields (_cocales_), where they are planted at the distance of about three spans from each other. The coca requires humidity; therefore, during the first year or two after it is planted in the fields, maize is sown between the _matas_, or young shoots, to screen them from the too great influence of the sun. When the leaves are ripe, that is to say, when on being bent they crack or break off, the gathering commences. The leaves are stripped from the branches, a task usually performed by women, and it requires great care lest the tender leaves and young twigs should be injured. In some districts, the Indians are so very careful in gathering the coca, that, instead of stripping off the leaves, they cut them from the stem by making an incision with their nails. The plant thus rendered leafless is soon again overgrown with verdant foliage.

After being gathered, the leaves are spread out on coa.r.s.e woollen cloths and dried in the sun. The color of the leaves when dried is a pale green. The drying is an operation which likewise demands great care and attention, for if the leaves imbibe damp, they become dark colored, and then they sell for a much lower price than when they are green. The dry coca is finely packed in woollen sacks, and covered with sand. These sacks are of various sizes and colors, in different parts of the Montanas. In Huanuco they are grey or black, and when filled weigh from 75 to 80 pounds. In Vitoc they are grey and white, and contain 150 pounds. In Huanta and Anco they are small in size, and black or brown in color, and contain merely one aroba. In the Montanas of Urubamba, Calca, and Paucartambo, the coca leaves are put into small baskets called _cestos_, and covered with sand. Great care is also requisite in the carriage of the coca, for if damp be allowed to penetrate the sack, the leaves become hot, or as the natives express it, _Se calientan_, and are thereby rendered useless.

The Indians masticate the coca. Each individual carries a leathern pouch, called the _huallqui_, or the _chuspa_, and a small flask gourd, called the _ishcupuru_. The pouch contains a supply of coca leaves, and the gourd is filled with pulverised unslaked lime. Usually four times, but never less than three times a day, the Indian suspends his labor, for the purpose of masticating coca. This operation (which is termed _chacchar_ or _acullicar_) is performed in the following manner: some of the coca leaves, the stalks having been carefully picked off, are masticated until they form a small ball, or as it is called an _acullico_. A thin slip of damp wood is then thrust into the _ishcupuru_, or gourd, and when drawn out some portion of the powdered lime adheres to it. The _acullico_, or ball of masticated coca leaves, is, whilst still lying in the mouth, punctured with this slip of wood, until the lime mixing with it, gives it a proper relish, and the abundant flow of saliva thus excited is partly expectorated and partly swallowed. When the ball ceases to emit juice, it is thrown away, and a new one is formed by the mastication of a fresh mouthfull of coca leaves. In Cerro de Pasco, and in places still further south, the Indians use, instead of unslaked lime, a preparation of the pungent ashes of the quinua (_Chenopodium Quinua_, L.). This preparation is called _Llucta_ or _Llipta_. In using it a piece is broken off and masticated along with the _acullico_. In some of the Montana regions the Llucta is made from the ashes of the musa root. The application of the unslaked lime demands some precaution, for if it comes in direct contact with the lips and gums, it causes a very painful burning.

During a fatiguing ride across the level heights, where, owing to the cold wind, I experienced a difficulty of respiration, my Arriero recommended me to chew coca, a.s.suring me that I would experience great relief from so doing. He lent me his _huallqui_, but owing to my awkward manner of using it, I cauterized my lips so severely that I did not venture on a second experiment.

The flavor of coca is not unpleasant. It is slightly bitter, aromatic, and similar to the worst kind of green tea. When mixed with the ashes of the musa root it is somewhat piquant, and more pleasant to European palates than it is without that addition. The smell of the fresh dried leaves in a ma.s.s is almost overpowering; but this smell entirely goes when they are packed in the sacks. All who masticate coca have a very bad breath, pale lips and gums, greenish and stumpy teeth, and an ugly black mark at the angles of the mouth. An inveterate _coquero_, or coca chewer, is known at the first glance. His unsteady gait, his yellow-colored skin, his dim and sunken eyes encircled by a purple ring, his quivering lips and his general apathy, all bear evidence of the baneful effects of the coca juice when taken in excess. All the mountain Indians are addicted more or less to the practice of masticating coca.

Each man consumes, on the average, between an ounce and an ounce and a half per day, and on festival days about double that quant.i.ty. The owners of mines and plantations allow their laborers to suspend their work three times a day for the _chacchar_, which usually occupies upwards of a quarter of an hour; and after that they smoke a paper cigar, which they allege crowns the zest of the coca mastication. He who indulges for a time in the use of coca finds it difficult, indeed almost impossible, to relinquish it. This fact I saw exemplified in the cases of several persons of high respectability in Lima, who are in the habit of retiring daily to a private apartment for the purpose of masticating coca. They could not do this openly, because among the refined cla.s.s of Peruvians the chacchar is looked upon as a low and vulgar practice, befitting only to the laboring Indians. Yet, Europeans occasionally allow themselves to fall into this habit; and I knew two in Lima, the one an Italian and the other a Biscayan, who were confirmed coqueros in the strictest sense of the word. In Cerro de Pasco there are societies having even Englishmen for their members, which meet on certain evenings for the chacchar. In these places, instead of lime or ashes, sugar is served along with the coca leaves.

A member of one of these clubs informed me that on the few first trials the sugar was found very agreeable, but that afterwards the palate required some more pungent ingredient.

The operation of the coca is similar to that of narcotics administered in small doses. Its effects may be compared to those produced by the thorn-apple rather than to those arising from opium. I have already noticed the consequences resulting from drinking the decoction of the datura.[98] In the inveterate coquero similar symptoms are observable, but in a mitigated degree. I may mention one circ.u.mstance attending the use of coca, which appears. .h.i.therto to have escaped notice: it is, that after the mastication of a great quant.i.ty of coca the eye seems unable to bear light, and there is a marked distension of the pupil. I have also observed this peculiarity of the eye in one who had drunk a strong extract of the infusion of coca leaves. In the effects consequent on the use of opium and coca there is this distinction, that coca, when taken even in the utmost excess, never causes a total alienation of the mental powers or induces sleep; but, like opium, it excites the sensibility of the brain, and the repeated excitement, occasioned by its intemperate use after a series of years, wears out mental vigor and activity.

It is a well known fact, confirmed by long observation and experience, that the Indians who regularly masticate coca require but little food, and, nevertheless, go through excessive labor with apparent ease. They, therefore, ascribe the most extraordinary qualities to the coca, and even believe that it might be made entirely a subst.i.tute for food.

Setting aside all extravagant and visionary notions on the subject, I am clearly of opinion that the moderate use of coca is not merely innoxious, but that it may even be very conducive to health. In support of this conclusion, I may refer to the numerous examples of longevity among Indians who, almost from the age of boyhood, have been in the habit of masticating coca three times a day, and who in the course of their lives have consumed no less than two thousand seven hundred pounds, yet, nevertheless, enjoy perfect health.[99] The food of the Indians consists almost exclusively of vegetable substances, especially roasted maize and barley converted into flour by crus.h.i.+ng, which they eat without the admixture of any other substance. The continued use of this farinaceous food occasions severe obstructions, which the well known aperient qualities of the coca counteract, and many serious diseases are thereby prevented. That the coca is in the highest degree nutritious, is a fact beyond dispute. The incredible fatigues endured by the Peruvian infantry, with very spare diet, but with the regular use of coca; the laborious toil of the Indian miner, kept up, under similar circ.u.mstances, throughout a long series of years; certainly afford sufficient ground for attributing to the coca leaves, not a quality of mere temporary stimulus, but a powerful nutritive principle. Of the great power of the Indians in enduring fatigue with no other sustenance than coca, I may here mention an example. A Cholo of Huari, named Hatun Huamang, was employed by me in very laborious digging. During the whole time he was in my service, viz., five days and nights, he never tasted any food, and took only two hours' sleep nightly. But at intervals of two and a half or three hours, he regularly masticated about half an ounce of coca leaves, and he kept an acullico continually in his mouth. I was constantly beside him, and therefore I had the opportunity of closely observing him. The work for which I engaged him being finished, he accompanied me on a two days' journey of twenty-three leagues across the level heights. Though on foot, he kept up with the pace of my mule, and halted only for the _chacchar_. On leaving me, he declared that he would willingly engage himself again for the same amount of work, and that he would go through it without food if I would but allow him a sufficient supply of coca. The village priest a.s.sured me that this man was sixty-two years of age, and that he had never known him to be ill in his life.

The Indians maintain that coca is the best preventive of that difficulty of respiration felt in the rapid ascents of the Cordillera and the Puna.

Of this fact I was fully convinced by my own personal experience. I speak here, not of the mastication of the leaves, but of their decoction taken as a beverage. When I was in the Puna, at the height of 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, I drank, always before going out to hunt, a strong infusion of coca leaves. I could then during the whole day climb the heights and follow the swift-footed wild animals without experiencing any greater difficulty of breathing than I should have felt in similar rapid movement on the coast. Moreover, I did not suffer from the symptoms of cerebral excitement or uneasiness which other travellers have observed. The reason perhaps is, that I only drank this decoction in the cold Puna, where the nervous system is far less susceptible than in the climate of the forests. However, I always felt a sense of great satiety after taking the coca infusion, and I did not feel a desire for my next meal until after the time at which I usually took it.

By the Peruvian Indians the coca plant is regarded as something sacred and mysterious, and it sustained an important part in the religion of the Incas. In all ceremonies, whether religious or warlike, it was introduced, for producing smoke at the great offerings, or as the sacrifice itself. During divine wors.h.i.+p the priests chewed coca leaves, and unless they were supplied with them, it was believed that the favor of the G.o.ds could not be propitiated. It was also deemed necessary that the supplicator for divine grace should approach the priests with an _Acullico_ in his mouth. It was believed that any business undertaken without the benediction of coca leaves could not prosper; and to the shrub itself wors.h.i.+p was rendered. During an interval of more than 300 years Christianity has not been able to subdue the deep-rooted idolatry; for everywhere we find traces of belief in the mysterious power of this plant. The excavators in the mines of Cerro de Pasco throw masticated coca on hard veins of metal, in the belief that it softens the ore, and renders it more easy to work. The origin of this custom is easily explained, when it is recollected, that in the time of the Incas it was believed that the _Coyas_, or the deities of metals, rendered the mountains impenetrable, if they were not propitiated by the odor of coca. The Indians, even at the present time, put coca leaves into the mouths of dead persons, to secure to them a favorable reception on their entrance into another world, and when a Peruvian Indian on a journey falls in with a mummy, he, with timid reverence, presents to it some coca leaves as his pious offering.